6 Tips on Improving Your School Performance

Hi guys! Sorry I haven’t posted since Saturday. This week school has just been crazy busy, with homework and with registration for next year’s classes. I’m slowly starting to get more ideas, and now I just need time to actually make them into posts. 😉

That being said, Heir of Glitter is now going to be a bookish and lifestyle blog! I’ve found out that in just the couple of days since I made that decision, I’ve been coming up with more ideas for posts. I hope you guys don’t mind! Let me know if there are any non-bookish posts you’d like to see! 🙂

Basically, the title is just my fancy way of saying “school tips.” Now, I’m definitely not a perfect student. I might be in honors classes, but I’ve still had lazy days and average grades. Nonetheless, I don’t think I’ve done too bad in recent years. I’m currently working my way through high school, and I thought I would share some tips that I personally have found useful. 🙂

This is one of my favorite ways to study, though admittedly I haven’t used it for anything other than vocabulary words yet. There’s actually a website, but I use the app instead because I find it more convenient. It’s free and I’m pretty sure it can be downloaded on any phone or tablet. Every time I get a new set of words to know for English, I make a set on Quizlet to study once a day. As of this semester, I’m also using it for my science class, because there’s a lot of vocab. I think having the app is also helpful, because if you see it on your phone when you go about your day-to-day activities and app checks, you’re less likely to forget to study.

I’ve also been working on doing this regularly, rather than just for important tests and finals. You can basically do whatever you want with this, as it’s really flexible. I use simple highlighters * and certain colors mean certain things. It varies depending on the subject or on my mood, but for example, green = vocab, blue = key concepts or things to remember, and pink = examples.

* For some reason, standard packs of highlighters in stores have pink, orange, yellow, green, and blue, but no purple. Maybe it’s just in the US. I don’t know. I just wish it wasn’t so hard to find inexpensive purple highlighters. XD

I know that some teachers tend to move quickly through notes, so you don’t necessarily have time to get everything. My advice is to come up with some sort of abbreviation system, so it takes you less time to write down information. If you’re given notes where you’re supposed to fill in the blank or you’re on your own but there’s bold text in the presentation, get to that first. Star or highlight anything your teacher says is especially important. And if you can, write other bits of information down that could eventually be bonus questions on a test. Don’t worry too much about how your notes look, because if you really want to, you can always rewrite them later. And you’re the only one that needs to be able to read your handwriting. 😉

Note: don’t feel like you have to write down everything. If you do, not only will you probably fall behind, but your hand will hurt later.

This is probably the most important one. I think we’re all guilty of procrastinating something at one point or another, although I have to say that I rarely do. Get your homework done as soon as you can, and don’t save studying or projects until the last minute. If you get it done, you’ll have time to do what you want when the due date comes instead of rushing to complete it. I have math in the morning, and if I have time at the end of that class or another, I can be done before I come home. Unless I miss a day or there’s a lot of homework assigned, I can get most or all of my homework done at school. The only exception would be my last class of the day, because it’s a busy period. The best way to help yourself here is to have a planner. Some schools assign planners to students, mine included. If yours doesn’t, you can buy a simple yearly one at the store. It doesn’t have to be fancy like a bullet journal, just a place for you to write assignments, due dates, and quizzes/tests in.

Note: you don’t have to get everything done immediately. It depends on your timeline and the due dates your teacher gives. If you have homework due or a test to take tomorrow, work on it tonight. But if you have a project that spans two weeks, it doesn’t have to be done in three days. Be on top of things, but don’t overwork yourself. 🙂

If there’s one thing I’ve figured out about myself since I started high school, it’s that I don’t like asking questions. I worry that other people in my class will judge me for not knowing something, or think my question is stupid. In reality I know that the majority, if not all of them could care less. But I’m naturally shy and quiet, so I’m still working to get over that fear. So for now, if I have a question about an assignment or don’t understand a concept (particularly in math), I go up to the teacher’s desk after the lesson and ask privately. Sometimes, if I really need help, I’ll make an effort to get up and go in earlier, or stay a little longer after school. I might worry about classmates judging, but I know my teachers won’t. Whether you can ask during class or have to find another time, asking your teacher is definitely going to help.

Alternate solutions: email your teacher * or ask a friend that does well in that class.

* I’m pretty sure most teachers have a school email they use for students and coworkers and such.

I’ve heard from a few different teachers to try to study about 10 minutes each night, but sometimes I just don’t have time. And sometimes, I admit, I’m just too tired or I don’t want to. Like I said, I’m not a perfect student. But I do think studying a little bit of material for one, maybe two classes each night would pay off. I’m going to work on doing the same thing this semester. I think the average high school day has anywhere from 6-9 classes. Try making a schedule for, say, six days of the week (so you can still have a day off) and divide your classes into 15 minute study blocks for each of those days. Some days will have one, and others two. If you have a quiz/test, adjust the schedule a little. If finals are coming up, add a little extra time to each block. I think it will help, with both your confidence in your classes and your grades.

What are some things you do to help yourself out in school? Do you have any that I didn’t include? What’s your favorite class right now? I’d love to know! Tell me in the comments! 🙂

I’m off to read a little bit of A Darker Shade of Magic before bed. I haven’t been reading as much over the past few days, but I’m making slow progress. 😉 I hope you all have a fabulous day/night! ❤

Great post!! I definitely need to start writing with abbreviations, I usually write as much as I can but I’m often lost 😦 I created a Quizlet account before classes started in September last year but never used it ever since (oops), maybe I’ll try to use it for my next german test, I think it’s better for vocab too 🙂

Thank you! ❤️ it took me some time to figure out I needed to abbreviate my notes. Now that I do I can get everything and not fall behind. 😉 I didn’t even think to include foreign languages, but yes I think Quizlet would help with those too! Especially the conjugations. Good luck with German! 🙂